MANILA, Sept. 6 — Acting on orders from Vice President and Housing Czar Jejomar C. Binay, a formal administrative complaint was filed on Tuesday by the Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG) before the Supreme Court (SC) against Judge Rolando Mislang of Pasig Regional Trial Court Branch 167.

Binay is also chairman of the Pag-IBIG Board of Trustees.

In a complaint filed before the office of Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez, Pag-IBIG claimed that Mislang committed gross ignorance of the law and grave misconduct when he issued a 20-day temporary restraining order (TRO), which enjoined the Department of Justice (DoJ) from filing other syndicated estafa cases against president Delfin Lee and other executives of Globe Asiatique Realty Holdings Corp.

It also accused Mislang of violating Section 3 (e) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and Article 206 of the Revised Penal Code on the issuance of an unjust order and malicious delay in administration of justice.

The DOJ had recommended the filing of syndicated estafa charges against Lee and several others after an investigation ordered by Binay showed that Globe Asiatique used "ghost borrowers" and fake documents to obtain over P6.5 billion in loans from Pag-IBIG.

Based on the complaint, bad faith and malice on the part of Mislang were demonstrated when he issued the TRO despite even when the DOJ Panel of Prosecutors had already previously denied a similar petition to suspend proceedings filed by Lee on Jan. 27.

Pag-IBIG also questioned Mislang’s decision not to require Lee to post a bond, which is a basic requirement by Section 4, Rule 58 of the Rules of Court on injunctive relief.

The complaint also said that Mislang issued the TRO "based on mere unsubstantiated allegations of Lee. Mislang "acted prematurely" in issuing the TRO considering that Lee had already admitted on Aug. 26 that he has yet to receive a copy of the Review Resolution on Aug. 10 indicting him and several others.

“For the honorable Mislang’s failure to observe the basic laws and rules on injunction is not only inexcusable, but renders him susceptible to administrative sanction for gross ignorance of the law and incompetence. Failure to follow basic legal commands embodied in the law and the rules constitutes gross ignorance of the law from which no one is excused, and surely not a judge,” the complaint read.

The report also said that Mislang may even be held criminally liable for his knowingly rendering an unjust order and causing undue injury to the government and Pag-IBIG Fund in the discharge of his judicial functions.

“It also cannot be denied that the temporary restraining orders issued by honorable Mislang delayed the timely administration of justice. Indeed, despite the fact that Mr. Lee is not patently entitled to a temporary restraining order to restrain a criminal prosecution, Hon. Mislang issued a temporary restraining thereby causing a delay in the DoJ’s mandate to determine probable cause. Worse, Hon. Mislang prevented the DoJ from actually filing an information with regard to the DoJ’s findings in its Review Resolution on Aug. 10,” it read.

Meanwhile, Pag-Ibig is mulling filing additional cases of syndicated estafa against Globe Asiatique after receiving more complaints against the developer.

Pag-Ibig president Atty. Darlene Berberabe said that apart from the complaints they received from Xevera Housing Project in Mabalacat, Pampanga, they have also received complaints against GA from homeowners of Sta. Barbara village in San Mateo, Rizal. (PNA) DCT/RMA/FPV